CRA rules that a palliative care facility could only qualify for the (enhanced) PSB rebate once it commenced operations

A registered charity (not qualifying as a hospital authority) which currently operated a palliative care facility and had applied for and received the public service bodies rebate (of 83% of its GST costs) for the period after its commencement of operation, also applied for that rebate (rather than only the “ordinary” charity rebate of 50%) regarding its costs incurred during the construction period. It argued that it had acquired property and services during the construction period for the purpose of making eligible facility supplies (i.e., very broadly, exempt health care services provided under practitioners’ supervision).

In ruling against this claim, CRA noted that the definition of qualifying facility for a fiscal year included a requirement that the supplies of services ordinarily rendered “during that fiscal year” qualified as facility supplies, so that the facility did not qualify during the pre-opening phase.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of 13 July 2021 GST/HST Ruling 212992 under ETA s. 259(2.1).